“I have never seen any magic like that in my life,” Josefa whispered, and even though I knew creating the mouse had shaken her, somehow, what I’d just done had truly rocked her world.
“The lodestone changed us,” I told her simply. “It’s what happened to your witches. I used their wind to trap some Fae who were intent on attacking me. That’s how you know we’re not enemies…”
“The enemies of my enemies are my friend,” Carlos stated grimly, his focus on the little holes in the damp plasterboard around the other male witch’s head. “What have you done to him?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Josefa repeated, a scowl marring her forehead. “How can you not know?”
“I just don’t.” I shrugged. “It’s instinctive.”
“Bull,” she retorted. “Magic doesn’t work that way.”
“Magic doesn’t create life or take it either. Magic doesn’t make old men and women young again, nor can it make things invisible.” My grandmother shrugged. “You know as well as I do that the lodestones are beyond our understanding.”
“That’s why the Fae hoard them for themselves,” Linford inserted easily. “They wish to keep all the interesting new talents for their own. In this instance, they were late to the party.”
“You got them all?” Carlos asked, his attention still on the witch who was pinned in place.
“We did,” I replied, “and now they’re after us, and they’re not going to stop until they have us. I don’t want that. I don’t intend to be on the run for the rest of my life, and I know that if I have to, I’ll need to fight. I don’t want that either.”
“If you don’t want war, then you want peace,” Josefa murmured, “but even in politics, that isn’t simple.”
“No, but they don’t have our leverage.” Nor did they have a trick up their sleeve like I did.
“You want our help?”
“I need your manpower. Grandmother says you have groups in every country.”
“We do,” Josefa stated proudly. “But we’re the original group. Every other is a sister to this one.”
“Are you just terrorists or do you want reform?” I probed softly, aware my words were incendiary and not giving a damn.
“We’re not terroristas,” Carlos snarled, fury making his own magic manifest in a spooky green haze that swirled around his fingers.
“You attack indiscriminately,” Linford pointed out bluntly, but his tone was bland. He was stating a fact, not trying to cause a war.
“We attack anything we can that has Fae backing,” Josefa argued.
“Even if it makes sense? Or is intended for good?” I shot back at her and she instantly snorted.
“The Assembly does nothing that doesn’t benefit itself. If you haven’t figured that out by now, then you’re slow.
“Political tides turn every day, and we look at the bigger picture. That’s why we wanted your help. Inside eyes make for more accurate responses.”
“Help? You were going to bring me here by any means necessary. My grandmother has been running from you for a lifetime—”
“She’s been running from herself,” Carlos sneered, and around him, a few of the women nodded in agreement. “She knows exactly what the Fae are, and she turned her back on our group, the one alliance in the world who actually isn’t corrupt, because she was given a set of Virgo.”
“You wanted me to kill them,” my abuela snarled. “You wanted me to—” Her mouth tightened. “I wasn’t going to do that, Carlos, and you were the one who had an issue with that.
“I knew you’d forever question me and my loyalties, and I knew if you dragged my daughter into this mess, you’d make her pay for who her father was. Not just because he’s Fae either, but because you were jealous.
“I ran because I had to. Because—”
“Your allegiance changed.”
Gabriella’s chin tipped up. “It did. I changed. I became a mother. That changes your priorities. I wanted my family raised without the corruption of the Conclave infiltrating our lives, I wanted my hija to grow without fear from you too. I’ve wasted a ton of years hiding out from the Conclave, the Assembly, and the AFata, but I told Riel the truth when she asked what your purpose was.
“I wouldn’t have brought her here, period, if I didn’t think this was meant to be.”
“You just want us to keep her safe,” Josefa retorted.
“And that’s weird?” I replied, brow puckered. “It’s weird that my grandmother wants me to be safe?”
Her cheeks puffed out, but her dislike was a storm in her eyes. “I suppose not.”
“Of course it isn’t. But this is a moot point. We’re arguing for nothing. You’re a two-bit group who’s got one foot in the freedom fighter ring and the other in the terrorism ring. You’ve brought no real change since your inception because, if you had, I’d have learned about you at the Academy, so to the Fae, you’re not even worthy of being in their history books.
“You may be spread across the world, but hatred does that. People with similar sentiments will always find a home, but I’m telling you, I can make a difference now. You can either believe me and we work together, or we can leave and you can go back to doing what you were doing—trying to get students to spy for you.” My lips curved in an arrogant smirk. “The choice is yours.”
Seven
Matthew
“The choice is yours.”
I almost snorted at Riel’s words, but I had to appreciate her ability to work a room. She was a drama queen, that much I’d known for a while, but I did enjoy how she had all these much older witches staring at her, and moodily assessing whether or not they could read her mettle.
I could pretty much assure them they couldn’t.
It seemed to me that my woman was working on pure instinct, relying on kismet, and allowing a magic we didn’t understand to dictate her next moves.
I didn’t like it.
I didn’t trust it.
But also, I didn’t have a say in the matter. Not because she wasn’t giving me one, but because she was right.
That a battalion had come after us told me all I needed to know—the Assembly wanted us. What they wanted us for was up for interpretation, but I couldn’t imagine it was to give us chocolate and candy.
As the AFata pondered her declaration, I had to wonder just how long Riel would wait and how long the group would dally.
I knew Riel was right on another matter too—the state of this office alone told us that the AFata wasn’t a well-funded organization. Of course, funds weren’t always monetary, and power was more important in an organization such as this, but it did help pay the bills too, and it looked like this place had needed condemning thirty years ago when Gabriella had been a part of the group.
As I eyed the dump we were standing in, speculating if we’d contract some kind of disease from the black mold growing on the walls, Carlos finally grumbled, “How can we help?”
The woman, Josefa, glowered at him, but she didn’t argue. Their dynamic was curious, even more so when she demanded, “Are you going to let him go?” She beckoned at the back wall where the witch was still pinned in place with whatever Riel had done to him.
“Is he going to carry on trying to attack me?” she countered, and I eyed the male who, only Sol knew how, I’d sensed was working magic.
Okay, that was bull.
I knew how I’d figured it out, but that didn’t make it freak me out any less.
It sounded like an even bigger pile of bullshit to claim that the energy around him had changed, but that was the only way I could even begin to describe what I’d felt.
Everyone else, sure, they’d been transmitting heavy emotions—confusion, fear, and anger. But his? It had been weird. Malignant, almost.
I didn’t trust the male, that was for sure.
Because we were still touching, I murmured, “No,” too softly for the witches to hear.
Josefa cut the male a look
and barked something at him, but his reply was more of a grunt than a reassurance. Not that he could have reassured me. I knew whatever had worked him up enough to attack was still baiting him.
“He’ll be fine,” Josefa replied.
“He won’t,” I told my mate firmly, glowering at the other woman’s lie.
Riel rocked her head back against my shoulder and gently pressed into me, letting me know, silently, that she’d heard me and was listening.
“Fine isn’t enough of a reassurance. We won’t be here long,” she stated firmly.
That was the first I’d heard about this, but Sol, this was definitely Riel’s show. I was pretty certain none of us had a clue what was going on, but she seemed to have more direction than the rest of us.
As it stood, we couldn’t return to the Academy, the Conclave worked with the Assembly so there was no recourse there—even if they would help out an unlicensed witch, which I highly doubted. The humans were a potential ally, but I’d prefer not to muddy the waters with them unless this meeting went to shit.
Humans were dangerous. No, they didn’t have the weapons we did, the numbers, or even the magic, but they still somehow managed to cause more chaos than any other species on this planet.
I wasn’t about to trust them with us when they were as volatile and fickle as they’d repeatedly proven themselves to be.
Rubbing my chin along her shoulder to ease my concerns, I listened as Josefa spat, “We need to talk. There are things we must discuss.”
“No. There aren’t,” Riel countered instantly. “I’m here because if my original plan goes wrong, I’d like backup.”
“We need to discuss what this backup entails,” Carlos agreed, siding with Josefa—unsurprisingly.
“It entails us going to war with the Fae,” she murmured, and the simplicity of her words, the lack of emotion in her statement, had me wanting to wince.
But, the AFata weren’t wrong.
The second a Virgo bond came into play, loyalties changed. Allegiances were suddenly no longer as important as once they were.
No bond could outweigh this one.
Not familial, not racial.
I was living proof of that.
And Noa vil de Luir was a punk and unworthy of the Virgo bond for having thrown his life away for an old ancestral pile of rocks.
At her statement, the AFata grew a little more excited. It was easy to see that they liked the idea of that, and considering they were terrorists—linking myself with the group made me feel unerringly like my uncle who’d had the whole family shunned for his political alliances—violence was in their nature, and they would and could use it to their own gain with no shame.
Great allies, huh?
“But you don’t think that will be necessary?” Carlos probed, his tone less enthused than the interest his people were radiating. Either that, or he was a better poker player than he was an organizer of a political freedom-fighting movement.
“No, I don’t,” Riel answered simply.
“Why not?”
“That isn’t for you to know.”
“We’re going to tie ourselves to you—”
“With a reward in mind. I’m a witch before I’m Fae. My duty rests with my kind.”
“We only have your word on that,” Josefa hissed, her hands clenching at Riel’s obstinate refusal to share her plans.
I kind of understood how the strange woman was feeling. Seph, Dan, and I weren’t exactly in the picture, and we were her Virgo!
“My word is all you’ll get out of me,” Riel said bluntly, her tone a mite arrogant and all the hotter for it.
I might be confused, a little wary about my newfound abilities, and a lot in the dark, but seeing her take charge was like my version of porn.
“Do we have an agreement?” Gabriella rasped, finally speaking up. “Your numbers if things turn to war?”
Carlos looked at Josefa. “You might not need to talk about this with us, but we need to discuss it among ourselves, as well as the other committees.”
Riel shrugged. “Get busy then. We’ll be back before the end of the day is out.” To Linford, she murmured, “You know where my family lives?”
He blinked at her. “Of course.”
“Can you take us there, please?”
He didn’t bother replying, but he did summon a dagger and nick his arm. It figured he hadn’t been totally lying about using runes to craft portals, but the magic was there only because of the ‘lodestone,’ as Gabriella had called it, that he’d touched over a hundred years ago.
As I’d discerned with the witch at the back of the room, I felt the energy begin to gather as Linford called on a portal to transport us to Riel’s family home.
Unlike the witch’s, this wasn’t red, it was a bright shade of blue. Almost a cyan, but lighter. It pulsed for a few moments until it morphed into a silver color. There was a flash, a bright glow, and like that, we’d been transported across the ocean to Miami.
As a method of transportation, portals really couldn’t be beaten. No wonder the Fae were keen to get early access to fallen meteorites if such potential magic was locked into each one. I had to wonder if my family had even touched a lodestone. My grandfather would know, but he’d never told me of anything like that—nor would he. We were close, but disclosing such information would undoubtedly breach Assembly laws, and our family, shunned as it was, was careful to live within the Assembly’s might.
We landed in a foyer. Smart, considering it wouldn’t be wise to land outside a house or in the street, but still, it came as a surprise to be inside someone’s home without having been extended an invitation.
Riel’s hand grabbed mine, she squeezed then murmured, “Home.” With a smile, she headed off down the hall, leaving the rest of us behind as she went on, what I could only assume, was the hunt for her family.
Without her looking on, I took the opportunity to take the place in. My first impression wasn’t great. Sure, it was better than the Cuban homestead, but that wouldn’t have taken much. I mean, I’d known there were major differences between her childhood and mine, but even though my family was in exile, our wealth by contrast was huge.
Granted, the place was as neat as a pin. The wooden linoleum floor was old and a little cracked at the edges, but shiny from being cleaned so much. On the wall beside the door were several coat hooks that were loaded down with jackets, a reminder of just how many people probably lived here still. I knew Riel was the second eldest, so that meant there were probably at least five kids running around, depending on the age gaps between siblings.
The foyer was small, narrow, and light came through windows that lined the doorway, sending shards of summer sun into the hallway, which was open plan and led into the living room.
Old-fashioned leather sofas, scratched here and there, were aimed at an old, silver box TV. No plasma screens here. There was a nineties-style fireplace that had a traditional Gaian candelabra on top of it. But as far as I could see in a quick glance around the room, that was pretty much it where the Way was concerned.
There were no tapestries on the walls, no paintings of the traditional scrollwork I knew witches often used to decorate their homes. Just that singular candelabra. Forged from brass, it was a single stick with three offshooting arms. The single stick represented earth, and that was etched with leaves and branches. The other three arms represented fire, air, and water, and each one was decorated with similar motifs.
I knew from just looking at the piece how old it was. Sol, it was an antique. It radiated history and age, and I wasn’t sure if that kind of patina was something that would have registered with me before, or if my new powers were picking up on something within the metalwork.
I couldn’t stop myself from heading over to the mantelpiece, and when I reached out, I paused at the realization I’d make it invisible. I willed myself not to pull a magician’s act on the antique, and when I touched my finger to the surf that decorated the candlestick which represented w
ater and it didn’t disappear, relief settled inside me.
This new ability was useful, but it would be useless if I couldn’t control it.
As I traced the surf that looked as frothy as it felt under my fingertip, I felt Gabriella approach me from behind. “I wasn’t sure if she’d keep it.”
I frowned. “Why?” It was an heirloom. That much I could sense. This piece was probably worth more than all the furniture in the room, Sol, maybe even the house.
Gaian candlesticks were common among witches, since it was something they used to initiate their rites as well as a way to bless the house every Friday before the start of a new week, but though they were common, they were still special, and could be costly.
“She avoided magic as much as she could when she grew old enough to be able to control it. She taught Riel what she had to, and when Riel showed little aptitude with it, I knew that even though a part of her was ashamed since our line is strong and Riel wasn’t, I sensed she was also relieved.
“It’s easier to hide weaker powers than it is strong ones, after all, and because of my foolishness, Luisa wanted nothing more than to hide. If she could turn herself human, I feel sure she would.”
Cutting her a look, I felt Daniel’s approach. “What is it?” he asked.
“Just something we pass down to the girls in our family,” Gabriella stated softly.
He hummed. “Pretty.”
“Very.”
“Where’s the Sol salutation?” he inquired, peering around the walls. “They usually come together, don’t they?”
“How do you know that?” Gabriella countered, cocking a brow at him.
“I’m a diplomat’s son. That might not mean much to my people, but it does to human’s and witches,” he said dryly.
“He’s a middleman for the Conclave and the Assembly?” Gabriella questioned, and I could hear from her tone she was impressed.
Daniel nodded. “Yep. I learned a lot about witches from him.”
“What like?” I demanded, suddenly feeling like a large chunk of my education was lacking. Which, I guessed, it was, considering I was now related to a family of witches and, Sol, if I managed to beget a child with Riel and that child was a girl? She could be a witch too. I wasn’t sure how that would work, if the child would have wings as well, but we’d find out…
The Ascended: The Eight Wings Collection Page 49
